Ahpra is advising optometrists – newly minted and experienced – to take care with both their identities and their reputations.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) is warning new optometry graduates to not post their registration certificates online.
It says identity theft is rife and it is seeing websites pop up every day selling fake Ahpra certificates of registration based on real ones that graduating practitioners have posted on their social media.
“You’ve worked hard to earn your registration; don’t let somebody steal it,” the agency said.
That might not be a concern for more experienced practitioners, but in a separate initiative, the regulator is urging them to take care with feedback and complaints.
When these are managed well they can result in improvements that increase patient, client, and community confidence in the practitioner, Ahpra stated. It can also prevent a concern escalating to an external complaint body or regulator.
Poor or inadequate responses can also undermine personal and industry reputations.
To help improve the process, Ahpra, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and the 15 National Boards have developed a checklist to help resolve feedback or complaints made to practitioners.
It may also be relevant to those who have a role in establishing and maintaining complaints systems and processes at a health service.
The checklist, along with other resources covering a range of topics to support the practice, is available on Ahpra’s Resources page.
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